Commentary: Egypt visit poses dilemma for U.S.

Issue of extraordinary rendition needs attention

JASON BROWNLEE |
May 31, 2009

On Thursday, President Obama will deliver a highly anticipated speech from Cairo, Egypt. Billed as a message to the Muslim world, the address poses a major test for Obama’s vow to end detainee abuse and restore America’s moral authority. Egypt, the most populous state in the Middle East and homeland of al-Qaida commander Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been a cherished if problematic U.S. ally. Bush administration officials dubbed Egypt a role model in the fight against terrorism even as the State Department annually censured Egypt’s security services for continuing to “mistreat and torture prisoners.”

There lies Obama’s dilemma. The United States has chided the Egyptian government for abusing detainees even while endorsing, and in some cases exploiting, those same methods. Unless Obama ends U.S. support for prisoner maltreatment abroad, beginning in Cairo, he will not dispel international concerns about America’s commitment to the rule of law. Perhaps no phenomenon embodies this predicament more vividly than “extraordinary rendition,” a practice condemned by human rights organizations but conspicuously exempted from the president’s ban on torture.

Extraordinary rendition occurs when one government apprehends and transfers a wanted individual, often a suspected terrorist, to another country without formally arresting, charging and extraditing the suspect. Incommunicado, rendition victims effectively disappear until they are formally arraigned, ferret a message to the outside world, or secure their release. In addition to enduring the trauma of kidnapping and covert transport, rendition victims regularly suffer severe torture at the hands of the recipient government. The United States has reportedly passed alleged al-Qaida members to governments such as Uzbekistan, Jordan, Syria and Egypt where local security forces can interrogate them beyond public view or serious legal constraints. As noted by investigative journalists and human rights advocates, extraordinary rendition amounts to outsourcing torture.

In the network of extraordinary renditions Egypt has long been a favored U.S. depot, beginning in summer 1995 when American agents reportedly captured an Islamic militant named Talaat Fouad Qassem and whisked him to Cairo. Qassem has not been heard from since and is believed to have been executed. During the last five years of Clinton’s presidency, 10 more extraordinary renditions to Egypt are known to have taken place. Six times that many are estimated to have occurred during President George W. Bush’s first term.

Among those rendered under Obama’s predecessor was Egyptian-born Mamdouh Habib. Abducted in Pakistan in October 2001, Habib was transferred by U.S. authorities to Egypt for six months, then held at Guantanamo for another 2½ years before being released without charge. Cases like Habib’s demonstrate how detainee abuse corrodes America’s identity at home and image abroad, and the fallout from extraordinary renditions can linger for years. Twenty-six CIA agents are currently being tried (in absentia) by an Italian court for the alleged February 2003 rendition, from Milan to Egypt, of an Egyptian cleric known as Abu Omar.

Obama has spoken proudly of America’s historical efforts to “shut down torture chambers.” Extraordinary renditions do the opposite, employing brutish jailers rather than putting them out of business. Although a complete ban on the practice might seem prudent, Obama and CIA Director Leon Panetta have yet to forswear extraordinary rendition. Instead Panetta has glibly assured skeptics that his agency would “make very sure” individuals transferred would not be tortured. Such assurances are inherently dubious coming from government with a knack for tormenting detainees.

At the National Archives (in April), Obama vowed to “fight terrorism while abiding by the rule of law.” To make that case convincingly from Cairo, he must go beyond scolding American allies like Egypt for their human rights abuses and pledge that the U.S. itself will no longer abet such practices. An end to extraordinary rendition would ensure America’s moral high ground rests on firm principles, not furtive abductions and backroom brutality.